News | Sunday, 17 May 2009

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AD promises consistency on quality of life issues

Matthew Vella
Alternattiva Demokratika’s MEP candidates yesterday said AD had been always consistent on issues concerning quality of life matters, launching a vote-tracker for voters to make their minds up on parties’ voting records.
“AD is and has always been consistent, unlike others who talk about certain issues but then balk when it comes to action,” candidate Yvonne Ebejer-Arqueros said.
“On May 6, the conservative EPP-ED group successfully postponed a vote on the Estrela report on maternity and paternity leave, that had been previously adopted by Parliament’s women’s rights and gender equality committee. For Alternattiva Demokratika the harmonisation of a respectable minimum maternity leave period throughout the EU and for Maltese and Gozitan mothers in line with recommendations by the ILO and WHO is a very important issue,” she said.
The Maltese government is currently resisting an increase on the maximum 14-week maternity leave currently in force. The Estrela report recommends 24 weeks of maternity leave. Malta has one of the lowest period in the EU.
“Contrary to perceptions, an increase in the maternity leave period together with measures to help SMEs will increase and encourage women to take up employment. Our government, once again, is one of the countries in the EU opposing such a positive proposal. I hope voters will be aware of where the political groups truly stand on family issues when they go to the polls on the 6 June,” Ebejer-Arqueros said.
AD chairperson and MEP candidate Arnold Cassola yesterday presented a vote-tracker on the Greens’ website showing how MEPs and political groups voted on important issues.
“Talk is cheap, it’s votes that count. Voters can use the vote-tracker to find out how MEPs voted on key issues for the Greens such as economic, social and environmental policy, democracy and civil liberties among others. Once you have chosen the issue, you can choose to see how a whole political group voted or how MEPs from the same party in your country voted.”
In a list of examples issued by AD yesterday, the party said the PN MEPs had opposed publicising unethical behaviour by lobbyists by voting against a Green amendment to the European Transparency Initiative. A key part of the initiative was the setting up of a register for lobbyists and an accompanying ‘code of conduct’. Unfortunately, this register and code of conduct are voluntary, so lobbyists are not obliged to partake.

Greens’ vote-tracker
http://greens-efa-service.org/votetracker

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